Sunday, 20 December 2009

Last night we held the resurrected Roberts Family Christmas Party at our flat.

Dad had arranged it. He didn't tell us, he told everyone else - and then when it had achieved a momentum of its own and my sister had actually broken the news to me that we were hosting it - he admitted what he'd been planning.

And we drank a great variety of red wines people brought along (Australian Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon, French Cotes du Rhone, Rioja) and a selection of bitters (Bath Ales Barnstormer, Badger Golden Glory, Ruddles County)

It all seemed to go down well. We've got a lot of kumera bake left, but I think that's because I made vastly more of that than was sensible...

Flake the mackerel, finely chop the chives, mix both with the soft cheese. Squeeze in some lemon, grind in a really good dash of pepper (unless you were using already peppered mackerel) and garnish with a couple of halved chives on top.

To roast a duckI think it's best to buy them the day before, unwrap them and wash them inside and out in cold water. Pat them dry with kitchen towel and leave them overnight in the fridge uncovered to dry off.

When you're ready to cook them, stab them all over with a sharp knife to make holes for the fat to drain out from as they cook. I stab them to a depth of about 2 centimetres and around 12 stabs a bird.

Then put them in a 180˚C oven, on a wire rack over a pan to catch the fat and juices in.

Make sure to keep the fat, it's beautiful for roasting vegetables or for making confit duck legs in and it will last for ages in the fridge or freezer. You'll need to whip the pan out and drain the fat off a few times as the bird roasts, so just pour it off into a pyrex jug or something to cool and when you're finished decant the fat off the top into a jar to keep in the fridge.

About 2 hours should make a 2 kilo bird crispy and brown and delicious.

The sauce was a bit too liquid so I boiled it down for a while before I folded in cheese

The cheese was a mix of

2/3 Gruyere 1/3 strong cheddardash parmesan

I seasoned the sauce with this cheese until it tasted right, I grated too much cheese and saved a fair bit for the next time I need it (Saturday). When the sauce was ready, I mixed in the veg and seasoned it with a lot of pepper.

Then I took a large lasagne dish and layered this mix, sheets of pasta, lyod grossman wild mushroom sauce with fresh buffalo mozerella, repeat... until the dish was full. Then grated parmesan over the top.

Proportions were about 3/4 cheese sauce with veg and 1/4 tomato sauce with mozerella.